On a desk of an office or a home, physical goods, such as documents or the like are dispersed. There is a case in which a person who is well put in order expands various related documents at the time of use. A personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as PC) is just one of physical goods, and, even when the IT/network age, a person spreads ones, such as documents, notes, or diary, other than electronics, and performs a task with reference to various kinds information.
This is a limitation to enhance intelligent productivity. Of course, this is not a cause for an intrinsic obstruction. A problem is that the rapid reference of various kinds of required information is not subjected to a scalpel. Although various kinds of information spread through a network, all what is provided is just a function of search of such information. The sort and examination of various kinds of searched information are not considered yet.
When a person truly requires the information is just the time that the person wants the information. Further, it is the time that a consideration is taken on the basis of the information, that is, during the consideration. At that time, if the timely reference cannot be made, it is meaningless. When a search is performed after the consideration “I suppose that is . . . ”, the consideration is interrupted. At present, the search is a mode of inspection, and is an examination which is performed by a person, who wants the information, or which is entrusted to another person. Since the examination is not the consideration in parallel, unlike an intelligent production, the examination is just a part of a process of an intelligent production, for example. As for the intelligent production, in a state in which the required information can be immediately viewed, regardless of the examination, the consideration is expanded while appreciating the information, and a new idea is produced. Unfortunately, an information environment for the intelligent production does not exist.
What is important is an access speed to the information for the maintenance and progress of the consideration. The information access is impossible in the information examination mode. When the required information is presented, and the consideration is made on the basis of the information, it can be understood that the consideration is accessed to the information. The phase that ‘the consideration is accessed’ is important.
In order to obtain the progress of the consideration, it is necessary to realize 1) a person can get the required information quickly and 2) the information is expanded widely and is arranged to the extent of the change of his sight.
As for 1), as described above, the search is not problematic. The problem is how peripheral information in a paper or electronic form gets in a form to be referred to. When multiple tasks exist, the sort/change speed of the set is problematic.
As for 2), in one PC at present, there is a problem in that an information display space excessively narrows. Since the information display space is narrow, and the character is small, if multiple windows open in one display, it is difficult to handle the information. That is, the information cannot be immediately viewed, an operation needs to be performed to take an overlap window at first while considering benefits. As a result, the reference information is output to a printer for ease of viewing, is printed on a paper, and is disposed at a visible position. Of course, there are many cases in which the papers are distributed for a conference or the like, and it takes much time to scan and adjust them (that is, at present, it takes much time for scanning). The two problems are a problem in that the electronic materials and paper materials are mixed, and a problem in that, even when one PC is used and the total area is increased by enlarging only the display, processing capacity of the CPU does not meet. For example, it is difficult to simultaneously support a plurality of conference images by one PC.
As a result, a person expands the related paper documents in the periphery while displaying a mail or Web information, document information, and the like through the PC. In order to adjust this situation and to enhance productivity, a new task support environment, which can perform a high-speed access to information and parallel reference, laying stress on the PC, needs to be considered. In particular, an intelligent producer, such as a project manager or an office worker, charges various tasks, and meets another task or checks the progress of another task (a background processing by a computer) at a side glance while laying emphasis on one task. That is, a complex and multilayered task method is taken.